Having hunted on and off since I was a teen and having enjoyed guns and shooting equally as long, whether for target practice, skeet, trap or sporting clays, I have often worried that the zealotry I see demonstrated by ardent NRA supporters gets in the way of having a rational and meaningful discourse about guns and firearms.

It is troubling that the state and national electorate are cowed by the organization, when few pick apart NRA assertions about the relationship between hunting and gun ownership and how their work protects both.

Lily Raff McCaulou, an op-ed contributor for the New York Times, has an excellent piece today that sheds light on the contradictions contained within NRA statements, important things that are often overlooked by politicians who are far too quick to court voting blocks and power bases. Read more: I Hunt, But I Oppose the N.R.A.